Planning UMPI - Filipino

[RAINBOWSUSHI//OUROBOROS]

Let me start this off by saying that I'm probably way over my head, so please call me out for any absurd stuff.

Location: Philippines
Age: 17
Target University: UMPI

Current Education: 12 - Senior High School, I will graduate in 9 months so that's how much time I have(on the conservative side, not including summer and wait time for application if things do go according to plan.)

Target: UMPI's future BSCS degree on Software Development, I heard they were planning on it in 2020 with signs of release on 2023, speculations say we'll get new courses once they complete the FullBright move. So 9 months of waiting maybe they'll actually release it before I graduate so I'm banking on that.

Budget: 2300$, I'm poor as hell. But I'll work my ass off to get the money and I'm confident that I'll get it. The caveat is that I'll need to finish everything in 1 term(8 weeks, 1500 $) + sophia course, study.com and all that to pay on and not get ****** over. I do have a backup state school so if I do blow my money on this or the college course doesn't come after I graduate I have some safe ground to land on.

Reason: You may think I'm crazy for risking an equivalent of years of savings to a Filipino man to get a fast degree, and I don't mind. But 4 years of college is just insane, that could have been 4 years of work experience, unfortunately most works here need a college degree even for work that can be done by a random person(Example: I saw a work post needing a dishwasher and their requirements? Needs a college degree and be 20 years of age). Highschool degrees work here pays peanuts too + overworked and nightshift so not worth it.

Commitments: 6 hours of work(wfh)+ 6 or 8(wednesday) hours on school. The rest is free time

Dedicated Time to Study: At most 6 hours weekdays(16 hours max on weekends) least is 3 hours. I do study a lot so it's not a problem about motivation and all that plus my money is on the line. Some details: I do sleep at 11 pm or 12 in the midnight so I have more free time than any regular person who sleeps at 9 or 10

Timeline: As quick as possible, hoping for a 1 term finish so I don't have to pay a lot and save some money to move out of the house.

Tuition Assistance: My parents could probably help, but I'm not gonna drag them into it + the money they can help me at best is 200$ so nah. If I find out that I maybe in over my head, then I'll take the state college instead and bid my time while working to get more money.

QUESTIONS: Most of these will be about money so please bear with me. 

1.) All in all how much did you spend?

2.) How much did you spend on Sophia, Study.com etc to get 90 credits before enrolling to UMPI + How much time did it take you?

3.) How does the sending of diploma works, do you pay for it? I have never gotten mail from the US so I am asking. I wonder if I can use rental PO box from the postal office to get it? Again never got mail 

4.) Do you spend money when transferring credits? If so how much?

5.) Can the diploma be used in the Philippines or do I need to get it checked or something?

6.) Is it even possible to finish all of it in 1 term with max credit transfer?

[rachel83az]

Unfortunately, even if they do come out with the Comp Sci degree in the next few months, YourPace degrees are not open to students who are not at least 20 years of age.

Does it need to be a Computer Science degree right now? Do you know if the Philippines (or employers there) distinguishes between Regionally Accredited and Nationally Accredited US degrees? Some countries do, some do not. Even in countries that do, the employers often do not.

I ask because your location means that you could get a degree from NationsU 100% for free: https://nationsu.edu/

Pros: Free (for people in certain areas of the world). 100% self-paced.
Cons: Nationally Accredited. Christian-based religious degree (not everyone is Christian/religious).

If you just need any degree to get a job, this could be perfect. Some students have previously obtained a NationsU Bachelor's degree in as few as 6 months (I think 1 year has historically been the average?). As far as I'm aware, some of them weren't even Christians. If this would work for you at all, even if you don't like the degree subject, it would allow you to get to work ASAP while saving money for the UMPI degree. Or for some other comp sci program.

[RAINBOWSUSHI//OUROBOROS]

Unfortunately, even if they do come out with the Comp Sci degree in the next few months, YourPace degrees are not open to students who are not at least 20 years of age.

Does it need to be a Computer Science degree right now? Do you know if the Philippines (or employers there) distinguishes between Regionally Accredited and Nationally Accredited US degrees? Some countries do, some do not. Even in countries that do, the employers often do not.

I ask because your location means that you could get a degree from NationsU 100% for free: https://nationsu.edu/

Pros: Free (for people in certain areas of the world). 100% self-paced.
Cons: Nationally Accredited. Christian-based religious degree (not everyone is Christian/religious).

If you just need any degree to get a job, this could be perfect. Some students have previously obtained a NationsU Bachelor's degree in as few as 6 months (I think 1 year has historically been the average?). As far as I'm aware, some of them weren't even Christians. If this would work for you at all, even if you don't like the degree subject, it would allow you to get to work ASAP while saving money for the UMPI degree. Or for some other comp sci program.

Ah that sucks about the age requirement, but hey atleast if they don't release it now that means there are more chances it will release in the future and I'll be more prepared.

1.) Yes sadly, I do want to start working and have learned all the pre requisite skills to one of the jobs only problem is the BSCS degree. ;-;
2.) They don't in general, some employers may be picky(big corpos and all that) but most don't care.
3.) Hmmm, maybe I'll enroll in NationsU if the situations is dire. But I'll stay at the state college a bit until I'm twenty and saved much more money and skills. I'd probably start pre-gaming the courses in Sophia & UMPI and polishing my resume while freelancing.

I'm genuinely grateful for the answers & recommendations. Thank you

[rachel83az]

One thing you could do while waiting for admittance to a UMPI Comp Sci degree would be to complete Saylor courses: https://degreeforum.miraheze.org/wiki/Saylor_Academy

I normally don't recommend them, for a few reasons, but those reasons are smoothed out a bit if you're not in a rush. The exams are only $5 each. Passing an exam every month or two may be easier than trying to cram the Comp Sci Sophia courses into 1 or 2 months to prepare for UMPI.

[RAINBOWSUSHI//OUROBOROS]

One thing you could do while waiting for admittance to a UMPI Comp Sci degree would be to complete Saylor courses: https://degreeforum.miraheze.org/wiki/Saylor_Academy

I normally don't recommend them, for a few reasons, but those reasons are smoothed out a bit if you're not in a rush. The exams are only $5 each. Passing an exam every month or two may be easier than trying to cram the Comp Sci Sophia courses into 1 or 2 months to prepare for UMPI.

Woah these are better for me, saves money and has free courses. Thank you, I've gotten more than I've bargained for.  

[dfrecore]

UMPI is out for now, but you should definitely go to the state university there if it's not expensive. Take courses that will work in other schools, so that you can transfer when the time comes. The advice to do Saylor courses is a good one for someone without a lot of cash. Unfortunately, all of the other inexpensive or free options are not available to non-US Citizens or non-US residents (CLEP via ModernStates, OnlineDegree, TADA, etc.). So Saylor is your best option there.

One other option: ALEKS math - you could take College Algebra, Trigonometry, and Statistics, and it's $20/mo. If you study ahead of time, you could pass all 3 in a single month. Khan Academy is a good option for free learning. You can even go well beyond those, all the way through Linear Algebra if you want. Learning the material will make everything easier going forward, even if you can't get credit yet.

If you end up wanting to get a CompSci degree, and UMPI hasn't come up with any options, and you're younger than 20 and have the money, you may want to look at TESU instead. It would cost roughly $4700 for a single term there where you take 15cr including the cornerstone, capstone and 3 other courses. It can be done entirely through alt-credit, and we can help guide you to the fastest path for that. Between your state college courses which you can transfer for RA credit, and the FT/FR Term at TESU, you should meet the guidelines for 30cr of RA, and can do the remaining courses through Saylor, Sophia, Study.com, and some foreign college in the EU (? can't remember the names).

[bjcheung77]

<edited the OP to remove the profanity as we have young readers>... I am going through about 15 posts to remove the remaining ones... Hmm, very interesting...You can be like one of our members, but do things a little differently.  Complete a Nationally Accredited program for undergrad and ladder that up to a Regionally Accredited for graduate school.  For example, Bottega University BS Computer Science - Business to get the basics of both worlds, HAU for MBA after that, and be done with it for under 7K...

Here's the newest post link referencing that member: https://www.degreeforum.net/mybb/Thread-...#pid391839
My second post link referencing them: https://www.degreeforum.net/mybb/Thread-...#pid370942
My very first link in regards to that person: https://www.degreeforum.net/mybb/Thread-...-DF-member

[rachel83az]

I'd just like to point out that $7k USD and even $5k USD is expensive when OP pointed out that $2300 takes years to save in the Philippines.

Glassdoor says that the average monthly salary there is about 56k Philippine pesos. That's only around $12k USD per year.

To put things into better perspective, Raleigh, NC is supposed to be the state capital with the lowest cost of living. Compared to Manila, the Philippine capital, it's outrageously expensive: https://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/co...rrency=USD

[bjcheung77]

Hmm... Exactly... Everything is out of reach at the moment and you're going to have to start from somewhere, you can start with the cheapies/freebies for now.  Review the WIKI for both the cheapies/freebies for Saylor.org, TEEX and the other cheapo options on this link: https://degreeforum.miraheze.org/wiki/Fr..._of_Credit  

At 17, (if it was me)... Your main focus is to get the trifecta, certs, degree, experience (job, volunteer), you can try the Coursera Certs here for cheap: https://degreeforum.miraheze.org/wiki/Coursera - You can also ladder those cheapo ones with the inexpensive Metropolia option for transfer credit into TESU or UMPI when the time comes.

You can take all the inexpensive options from here (to start accumulating ACE/foreign credit, self-paced), it's rachel83az link for the TESU BSBA CIS/BA Comp Science: https://degreeforum.miraheze.org/wiki/Sa...z_version)

[NapoleonInRags]

The universities in the Philippines are not cheaper than UMPI? According to Edarabia, "How much does it cost to go to university in the Philippines? An average cost of $1,000 for public universities or $1,200 to $1,500 for private universities will cover one's tuition for a year." And many schools there offer Computer Science degrees, like the University of the Philippines Diliman.

Or is Edarabia wrong about this fact? Rainbowsushi, please offer us some insight into this.

I know you said that you don't want to go to four years of school, but if you could save money by going to a school in the Philippines, I would just go there instead.